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25/8/2007

Uwe Wittwer

Haunch of Venison, Zurich

Solo show

The Zürich artist Uwe Wittwer (b.1954) has accumulated an impressive body of work which, regardless of the changing trends in art and the diversity of his techniques - painting, watercolour, Ink-jet print, video - presents itself as a consistent whole. Wittwer paints figuratively, but not only since figurative painting turned out to be a predominant trend in the art since the 1990s. The consistent principle of the 'pictorial' and the intense involvement with the 'image' form the basis throughout his work, even where one would not expect it. In this way, inkjet prints resemble watercolours and watercolours resemble oil paintings. Throughout his work, Wittwer closely examines the idea of the picture, its authenticity and truth, and the multiple refractions of reality.

Uwe Wittwer's work is often associated with the field of Appropriation Art, a term which refers to the use of borrowed elements in the creation of new work. Since his first large-format watercolours - his series 'Queen' (1991 onwards) referring to Hans Holbein the Younger's 'Portrait of Jane Seymour' - Wittwer time and again turns to works from art history, especially to Pieter de Hooch, Jean-Baptiste Chardin or William Hogarth. Other sources are his own photographs, often of banal interiors or houses, and images found from the internet. What primarily interests him are calm, contemplative motifs, stills lifes, and domestic scenes. After having elected his sources, Wittwer then subjects them to different processes of filtering until they reveal something formerly unseen. Thus, he isolates details such as a necklace, crinoline, floral elements or a chandelier; he enlarges them or omits details. Often, the original picture appears as a mirror image or as a negative so that white becomes dark and dark becomes white, or he blurs or overlays different motives, referring to the oft-cited postmodern "simultaneity of the nonsimultaneous." What all these seemingly idyllic scenes have in common is that the idyll, often only hinted at with a single strokeof the brush, is threatened and on the verge of being overturned. A kid's game turns into a scene of violence, a peaceful house becomes the setting of an unknown tragedy. What results are mysterious works of suggestive beauty and sensuality.

Other themes in Uwe Wittwer's work include violence, war and death. His source, once again, is the encyclopaedic imagery found on the internet. Here, chance can guide him. For example, when seeking pictures by the Baroque painter Pieter de Hooch, he stumbled across the word 'hooch' and found snapshots taken by American GIs of their life in camp during the Vietnam War. Those images, filtered step by step on the computer, reflect upon the difficult process of coming to terms with the past. Whether watercolours or inkjets, the images often have an oppressive, eerie beauty, a dreamlike memory like a still from a blurred black-and-white movie. Art critic Etienne Lullin writes: "The panopticon of his imagery demand great intellectual mobility. This involvement, though, will be rewarded with a deeper understanding of the essence of an artwork and, maybe, with a better comprehension of the meaning of life."

Uwe Wittwer (b.1954) lives and works in Zürich. He was recently awarded a prestigious studio grant to live and work as artist in residence with Zuger Kulturstiftung Landis + Gyr for the next six months in London. His next solo exhibition will be at Haunch of Venison Zürich in August/September 2007. His past solo exhibitions include shows at the Kunstmuseum Solothurn (2005); the Ludwig Forum, Aachen (2005); the Kunsthalle Winterthur (2001) and Helmhaus, Zürich (1998). Wittwer's work is included in the following public and institutional collections (selected): Sammlung Ludwig, Aachen; Kunsthaus Zürich; Museum für Kommunikation, Bern; Kunstmuseum Bern; Kunstmuseum Solothurn; City of Bern; City of Geneva; City of Zürich; Swiss Confederation; UBS AG; Credit Suisse; Caldic Collection.

Haunch of Venison
Lessingstrasse 5 - Zurich
free admission

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